Swiss voters defeat plan for disbursing proceeds of gold sales

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee would be
most appreciative if someone in the GATA Army
could let us know what was said in the
interview cited below in regard to J.P.
Morgan Chase and its short gold positions.

* * *

Hi, Bill:

There is an interview on Bloomberg
(institutional access level) at 12:01 p.m.
today. The interview is audio so the text is
unavailable, and I cannot listen to the
interview but will try some other terminals
tomorrow. Perhaps some of GATA's sources can
transcribe or access the information.

At 6:00 (minutes) the segment on "Short
positions in gold: views on universal banking
model" is the second longest of the 16
segments of the interview. See the last item
of the interview.

New York, Sept. 18, 2002 (Bloomberg) --
Standard and Poor's analyst Tanya Azarchs
speaks on a teleconference about the agency's
ratings action on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and
its units. S&P lowered its senior debt rating
on J.P. Morgan to A+ from AA- after the bank
cut its third-quarter profit forecast.

01:03 Gerard Painter introduces the call.

03:43 Azarchs: Rationale for ratings action
on J.P. Morgan, units.

01:24 Factors contributing to "negative"
outlook for J.P. Morgan.

01:16 Steps J.P. Morgan must take to maintain
rating.

01:14 J.P. Morgan's liquidity and strengths.

03:54 Questions: Non-performing loans,
"sanguine" outlook.

03:39 J.P. Morgan's dividend payments and
risk management.

02:33 Derivatives portfolio and exposure to
energy industry.

05:37 Trading revenue, profitability, and
competitive environment

02:22 Proprietary positions and short-term
counterparty rating.

04:46 Liquidity position and criteria for
maintaining rating.

05:42 Trading income, private equity, legal
issues, and Enron risk.

06:45 Future downgrades, surety issue, and
comparison with 1990s.

02:15 Timing of trading losses and
proprietary positioning.

06:00 Short positions in gold; views on
universal banking model.

* * *

GATA has Morgan on the run. Let's find ways
to keep it that way. Show these bums as much
mercy as they have accorded blacks dying in
Africa partly as a result of Morgan's
suppression of the price of gold.

Consider this news story tonight from
CBSMarketWatch.com:

* * *

Morgan gets slammed in cyberspace

SAN FRANCISCO -- The virtual hyenas were a-
cacklin' Wednesday as they feverishly tore
into J.P Morgan following the finance giant's
earnings warning.

Bitten by credit losses and a steep decline
in trading revenue, J.P. Morgan Chase said
that third-quarter profits would come in
"well below" second-quarter results.

Over on Raging Bull, as some posters placed
their bets in "The J.P Morgan Death Pool,"
others, like Derbenski, painted a bleak
picture looking forward:

"When I look at JPM's current condition I see
'designed to fail' in the model. It was not
that long ago that Long-Term Capital
Management nearly melted down the world
financial markets with the derivative
concoction, and you look at JPM -- it's
LTCM's daddy in the derivative market. If the
derivatives don't kill them then it will be
cuts from a thousand knives from the likes of
Enron and the rest of the list of bad plays."

In Yahoo's brazen cyber-kingdom, GoldBugger2k
drew plenty of attention as he shuffled the
deck: "The cards have been dealt with three
showing and two hidden. When the two hidden
cards are revealed we will be on our way to
the greatest gold bull market ever.

"Card 1 was turned yesterday -- JPM's price
of $20/share or less. The next card to be
revealed soon is a spot price of gold of $340
plus. When this happens, and it will, JPM
will be forced to settle derivative positions
on gold at expiration. That, my dear friends,
will be the final nail in JPM's coffin.

"The days of making obscene profits shorting
gold and gold stocks will come to an end once
and for all. They had a good thing going for
them but as usual greed and avarice overtook
them. Ta-ta, JPM."

While gold fever wafted through the boards,
some posters went for the jugular. Take
EasyGoin, who was anything but:

"Anyone that would buy stock to profit in a
lying, cheating, and fraudulent organization
such as JPM is just about as UNAmerican as
you can get. Is it really fair to reward
those in banking for their greedy self-
serving mismanagement? Let them sink."

Flickenstein didn't shed any tears either:

"Pillaged by management in search of quick
bucks and fees. Nice bonuses now taken
directly out of market cap. Let her sink,
please. JPM is the ultimate gambling bank
that bet against the house. They thought they
WERE the house but quickly realized the game
is played only when players do not think the
odds are stacked against them. Now they are
left to play with themselves."

There's no saving this beached whale,
according to JKShaughnessy:

"JPM has come ashore and is in desperate need
of liquidity. Try as the Fed may to cover her
with wet towels, it looks like it will be a
long time before the tide returns. Too big to
fail? More like 'too big to save.'"

And finally, WalterReed didn't stop at merely
attacking J.P Morgan:

"The Fed will shotgun marriage this dead dog
to Citibank and create the world's ugliest
banking monstrosity. One half dead greedy dog
dragging a totally dead one down the road
while being whipped forward by Alan Greenspan
and the FOMC sled drivers."

Needless to say, there's still plenty of
negativity toward corporate America drifting
across the cyber-plains. Does J.P. Morgan
deserve all the bashing? Share your thoughts
in CBS MarketWatch.com's JPM Discussion.

* * *

Consider this one too:

* * *

J.P. Morgan Has Lost Its Street Credibility

By James J. Cramer
TheStreet.com
September 18, 2002

Hostility may be a tad too strong a term for
the relationship between Wall Street and J.P.
Morgan. Testy, maybe. Or incredulous. But
when you listen to the replay of last night's
conference call where J.P. Morgan detailed
the fiasco of a quarter it's having, you have
to believe that this group of managers has
simply lost the trust of the community it
most needs to rehabilitate: The analysts.

People don't trust this company when it comes
to its derivative book. They don't trust it
when it comes to venture capital markdowns.
People don't trust J.P Morgan when it comes
to bad credit recognition. People don't trust
it when it comes to trading foreign exchange.
People don't trust this company when it comes
to taking its medicine for bad loans. And
they don't trust it when it comes to paying a
dividend.

In fact, this conference call reminded me of
some of the worst calls between the old First
Union and Wall Street or the old Bankers
Trust and Wall Street, during the days when
Frank Newman was gutting his credibility by
the hour.

Yet what has been the J.P. Morgan's reaction?
Stay the course. Keep doing what we're doing.
Don't let the bad news get us down. No change
in the fundamental direction is needed.

Which brings me to prediction time: If this
company doesn't get new leadership in the
next month, it will be sold like Bankers
Trust was, to a European bank. It will be
sold for a price that is not north of where
it is now, because by that point it will be
so far south of where it is now.

In other words, the company's credibility is
shot. And so is the management's.

J.P. Morgan at one time was the Yankees.
This management team has turned the company
into the Devil Rays.